Submarine attitude control system



7, 1959 s. L. MOREL 2,873,710

SUBMARINE ATTITUDE CONTROL SYSTEM Filed March 6, 1956 2 Sheets- Sheet 1-.

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Feb. 17, 1959 s. MOREL 2,873,710

SUBMAR INE ATTITUDE CONTROL SYSTEM Filed March 6," 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. SvAev Z 7;

aamLazz-w United States Patent 2,873,710 I SUBMARTNE ATTITUDE CONTROL SYSTEM 7 Stanley L. Morel, Stanhope, N. J. 7

Application March 6, 1956, Serial No. 569,948

1 Claim. (Cl. 114-16) (Granted under Title 35, U. S. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

This invention relates to attitude control systems for marine vessels, such as submarines and the like.

Control systems now in use suffer from several disadvantages namely, (a) they are expensive to manufacture and maintain, (b) they are very cumbersome and unwieldy, and (6) they are not very well adapted for,

small applications of attitude control due to the large parasitic resistance of the control units.

The object of this invention, therefore, is to produce a control system which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, maintain, and assemble to existing naval vessels.

Another object of this invention is to produce a device which is very sensitive with respect to control and will apply small attitude corrections to the vessel if so desired.

A further object of this invention is a device in which the resistance of the unit is kept at a minimum.

These and other objects, not specified will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from a reading of the specification and a perusal of the drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a front elevation view of the control unit;

Figure 2 is a plan view of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation view of the control assembly,

Figure 4 is a diagram of the control unit shown in perspective.

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic showing of the control means attached to the electrical circuit of the drive motors.

Figure 6 is a view of the submarine in side elevation, showing the coupling mechanism for attaching the mechanism of Figure 1 to the hull of the submarine, and

Figure 7 is a view of the control unit showing in detail how the control shaft of Figure 1 is coupled to the motor support shaft.

In the figures, a vertical shaft, 3, is suspended from or can be mounted in a vertical position to the hull structure 20 of the vessel to be controlled. The hull structure has a coupling aparatus 21 to which is coupled the shaft 3. Washer and nut means 2, 1 can be used for attachment of the shaft to such structure.

At the opposite end of the vertical shaft 3, are rotatably mounted a pair of steering arm units 6 extending to opposite sides of the shaft and sandwiched between a set of washers 4, 7. At the extreme ends of the arm units, ports 5 in a U channel are provided for the retention of control rods, cables, linkage or the like.

The units 6 and shaft 3 are fixedly mounted to one of a pair of hemispherical tubular retainers 8, 12. The split sleeve retainers provide support means for rotatably shaft-9may be additionally supported by standard bearings 24. The details of the coupling mechanism form no part of the present invention. The retainers are joined together about the shaft by the use of standard coupling assemblies, 11, as for example, nut and bolt means. At opposite ends of the tubular shaft 9 are mounted motors, 13, whose drive shafts rotate propellers, 14. Mounted to the upper and lower portions of each drive motor are rudders 17 which aid in steering and providing stability to the attitude control unit 23. The shaft 9 may be enveloped by a flipper fairing 15 (Figure 4) through which fairing the electrical leads 16 may be passed in the event the drive motor is an electric drive unit; the fairing, of course, would be rigidly joined to shaft 9 to rotate therewith.

Fixedly mounted to the elevation shaft 9, on each side of the retainer assembly are a pair of elevator action arms 10. To the arms are fastened or connected conventional control means such as cables, linkages, rods or the like.

The operation of the device is as follows. In normal cruising, shaft 9 is normal to the longitudinal axis of the vessel and the axes of motors 13 are parallel to the axis of the vessel. The drive motors rotate the propellers 14; however, there is no tendency of the control system to alter the course of the vessel in any direction and the vessel continues on its normal course.

If it is desired to veer the ship to the right or left, the control linkage to means 5 of the steering units 6 is actuated thereby rotating the entire tubular assembly right or left as desired. The action of the propellers 14 and the force on the rudders 17 creates the unbalance of forces on the vessel tending to produce this right or left veering of the vessel.

If it is desired to alter the depth of the vessel or merely change the diving or surfacing angle from the horizontal, the control linkage to arm 10' is actuated (Figure 3) to the right or left, thus the axes of propellers 14 and fairing 15 is no longer parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vessel; an unbalance of forces is created and the vessels diving or surfacing attitude changes.

Further control is provided by having motors 13 of the variable speed type; well known electrical control means 23 vary the current to the motor to provide such speed regulation. Increasing the speed of motor 13 and propeller 14, of course, increases the sensitivity of the control unit While a decrease in the rotational speed makes the control system more sluggish.

It is understood, of course, that the horizontal and elevation controls may be operated at the same time thus producing a change in azimuth and elevation of the vessel at the same time.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teaching. For example, a single drive motor may be substituted for the dual drive presently used and centrally mounted on a Wishbone fork with elevation and steering controls adapted in a manner similar to that shown. It is therefore to be understood that Within the scope of the appended claim the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

A device for controlling attitude changes in the operation of a submarine comprising, in combination with a submarine, a first shaft extending downwardly substantially perpendicular from the bottom of said submarine, a pair of steering arm units fixedly mounted to the upper end of said shaft, means located in said steering arms for controlling the rotary disposition of the steering arm units, a second shaft, bearing means for coupling the second shaft substantially perpendicular to the axis of the first shaft so that the second shaft rotates with the first shaft about the longitudinal axis of the first shaft and is permitted independent rotary motion relative to its own longitudinal axis, a pair of elevator action arms mounted on the second shaft,,propellers mounted at the opposite ends of the'second shaft, drive means to rotate the propellers, rudders mounted on each side of thedrive means so that with a minimum of resistance and a high degree of sensitivity both the horizontal and elevation controls can be operated at the same time thereby simultaneously producing a change in azimuth and elevation of the vessel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Stoehr July 4, 1899 Hatch May 29, 1900 Douglas May 28, 1935 Osterhoudt June 5, 1945 Tucker et al. June 13, 1950 Dix Apr. 5, 1955 Hoke Sept. 17, 1957 

